Prevalence of Self-Reported Aggressive Driving Behaviour

29 July 2016 - By Eugene Herbert

Has anyone else noticed
how aggressive South African drivers are? Having driven in other parts of
the world where drivers tend to be more tolerant and understanding of other drivers’
errors, one can’t help but wonder what the world’s largest users of vehicle
shows.

A study undertaken in
the US reported that almost 80% of drivers had been involved in an aggressive
action.

The purpose of this
study was to provide estimates of the prevalence of aggressive driving
behaviours. The data analysed were collected via a nationally-representative
online survey of 2,705 licensed drivers aged 16 and older conducted in the
United States in 2014.

Seventy-eight percent
of U.S. drivers reported having engaged in at least one aggressive driving
behaviour at least once in the past year.

The most common such
behaviours, reported by roughly half of all drivers, were purposely tailgating
another vehicle, yelling at another driver, and honking their horn “to show
annoyance or anger.”

Approximately one-third
of all respondents indicated that they had made an angry gesture at another
driver.

Approximately one in
four drivers reported that they had purposely tried to block another driver
from changing lanes, and 11.9% reported that they had cut off another vehicle
on purpose.

A small proportion of
drivers even admitted to engaging in behaviours beyond the scope of general
aggressive driving and which may be considered road rage: 3.7% of drivers
reported that they had exited their vehicle to confront another driver, and
2.8% reported that they had bumped or rammed another vehicle on purpose.

Shocking, I am sure you
will agree. While we don’t have any meaningful data in South Africa, I am
sure that our own assessment of where we stand could well give us some
‘anecdotal’ information – and hopefully change our own behaviour.

The quiz link below is
broken up into four individual sections that rate the following characteristics
of aggressive driving:

Anger, Impatience, Competition, and Punishment

The sections contain 10 questions each, and at the end of section you will
receive a Low, Moderate, or High rating for aggression based on your
answers. Receiving a moderate or high score for any section means that
you have aggressive tendencies on the road and might need to take measures to
reduce that aggression. Tips and feedback follow each section.